This post was first written for my Patreons only, on August 27th – but I wanted to round off the year by thanking them again. Some small changes have been made to reflect the last 4 months.
It’s been a busy year here at #WRD, so I thought I would share some insights with you so that people can get more of an idea of what the website is all about and what I am trying to do.
The summer saw a re-design of the website layout and navigation, – so any feedback would be appreciated. It should now be easy to navigate to 1) News, 2) Find a Club map, 3) Each Competition ‘hub’ 4) Teams and Players.
If you click on a team badge ANYWHERE on the site you get taken to that team’s Profile Page. Every team I add to the website automatically gets a Team Profile page generated – like this:
https://womensrugbydata.com/team/exeter-chiefs-women
It can show their next ‘upcoming’ match (with live countdown), any recent results and any featured league table they are part of. It can also show a list of current (and ex) players, links to social media channels etc and a team Bio.
I have tried contacting clubs to work ‘with’ me in getting info for these pages but alas, only a handful of responded and even fewer have sent any information.
To that end, Team Profile pages will be going behind the Patreon wall & will become accessible only to Patreons at the end of the 21/22 Season.
I have introduced a Team Patreon tier, whereby a team can show their support for #WRD by paying £8 per mont to become a Team Patreon and then can choose to make their Team page ‘public’.
I will be doing the same with Player Profiles at the end of the 21/22 Season.
PLAYER PROFILES
This was one of many disappointments of building the website. I genuinely thought that Players – and teams – would be happy to see a single page for every player that showed their Bio & stats, particularly as I was offering the facility to put links to their sponsors on the page – with links to the sponsor’s website etc.
I continually see celebrity pundits lauded all over social media for the amazing coverage they’re giving to players … without them actually doing anything at all, and yet here I am literally providing a platform on which they can provide their bios, their stories, their stats – so they can pitch for sponsorship and on getting it, promote their sponsors publicly … and literally not ONE player or team has ever (in ten years) contacted me regarding Player Profiles.
Over the summer I chose to jazz up Poppy Cleall’s Profile Page to show how cool every Player Profile page could potentially be – see:
https://womensrugbydata.com/player/poppy-cleall
High quality images from the fabulous Neil Kennedy, stats, social media links, bio, points scored and matches played in etc – all on one page with an unchanging URL … for life!
Why would no player want to offer this to a sponsor so that every time a visitor clicked on their name anywhere on the website, it went to a page showing their sponsor with links to their website etc?
I can even register a domain for a player/team and point it to their profile – and even host their private email too. So I could register PoppyCleall.com > point it to Poppy’s Profile and set up contact@poppycleall.com as an email account & host it for her.
Same same for Team Profile pages.
Not one Team or Player has ever engaged. Simply not interested.
But I believe in what I am building and I truly believe that the penny will eventually drop. However, it is time that this fabulous content should only be accessible to those who believe in me and what I am doing … and that is my Patreons!
BACKFILLING
The other thing I have been doing this summer is backfilling old WRWCs and 6N’s Competitions.
I have completed WRWCs back to and including 1991 (https://womensrugbydata.com/womens-rugby-world-cup-1991/), adding teams like Germany, Sweden, Kazakhstan, Netherlands and Samoa as I go back in time.
I have also completed 6N comps all the way back to 2013 (https://womensrugbydata.com/womens-6-nations-2013/).
Once all Comps are uploaded, I will go back through and add scorers – which will in turn lead to more player profiles being added … which leads to a LOT of googling to get DoBs and accurate spelling of names etc, it’s a labour of love alright!
AIL & INTERPROS
The last big change has been the introduction of the the Tier 1 and 2 domestic rugby in Ireland. The AIL & Interpros have been fun to introduce, not least because the players, teams and fans actually communicate with me! It’s been amazing to have people contact me and share links etc. I have added ALL results and ALL scorers this season, so I’ve been able to keep an up to date Top Scorer section for the 21/22 AIL Division 1 Competition, see here:
https://womensrugbydata.com/all-ireland-league-2021-22/
This has been very popular with players and fans alike in Ireland.
WC1 N and S PLAYER OF SEASON and TOP SCORER
As a last hurrah, I wanted to do this at least once before I locked everything down as it’s something we have been looking at for a few years now. Every week, each Champ 1 Team send me their FoTM, BoTM and Opposition PoM and I have been logging all the data. The hope is that I can determine (via an algorithm) the T2 Player of the Season. The fantastic Johnnie Hammond has already agreed to announce/present the award on his fabulous Women’s Rugby Pod, I just have half a season to rustle up an award! I’m pretty sure nothing like this has ever been coordinated before, and I’m also pretty sure it won’t happen again – so it will be a very lucky winner!
Also, as with AIL – I have been collecting scorer data every week and running a Top Scorer chart here:
https://womensrugbydata.com/womens-championship-1-2021-22/
Again, this has never been done before and I am quite sure – will not be done again. So another special one-off competition to win.
SHARE THE LOVE
So, as I start to move ‘current’ content behind the Patreon wall (most archived data will remain public) I really hope we will start to see some players and teams join us as Patreons, and I hope you will all spread the love and tell your friends about us. Even if I only get 5 (out of 1500) players becoming Patreons and using their Player Profiles in a positive way … at least that’s 5 more than I have currently. These things always need trailblazers, that’s just the way things are. So if you know a Player or a Team that you think aren’t afraid to be the first to do something and lead the way … tell them about #WRD and tell them to drop me a line.
THANK YOU
To finish, I’d just like to say thank you for believing in #WRD and for taking the time to click the button and become a Patreon. There are only 41 Patreons right now and you are the very heart of why I do what I do. Thank you.
I took on board that this Project would be a massive expense to me personally from the start, and I will never be adding pop up advertising ‘acne’ all over the site just to try and make it pay. Your contribution is always appreciated, but I made it as low as I did so that it would never be a barrier to someone becoming a Patreon – I wanted anyone who wanted to show their support for #WRD, to be able to do it … and 41 of you did just that.
Be proud of what you’re doing for women’s rugby and the fact that you were one of the few who decided to do something. Please do add a #WRDPatreon tag to your Twitter Bio to show people how awesome you are!
